SINGAPORE, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Australia, Taiwan and South
Korea advised pregnant women and those attempting to get
pregnant to avoid travel to Singapore after an outbreak of the
Zika virus infected more than 50 people in the city-state.

The outbreak and the warnings come as a potential blow to
tourism in one of the world's busiest travel hubs, which is
already struggling to recover from a slump amid tepid global
growth.

Singapore reported its first case of locally-transmitted
Zika at the weekend, and the number of reported infections of
the mosquito-borne virus has since jumped to 56. At least three
dozen of those have since made a full recovery.

The Zika virus was detected in Brazil last year and has
since spread across the Americas. It poses a risk to pregnant
women because it can cause severe birth defects. It has been
linked in Brazil to more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly, a
rare birth defect where babies are born with abnormally small
heads and brains.
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